I appreciate all of the balance changes. The thoughtfulness that obviously went into a lot of these large changes is somewhat palpable. That being said, the Vietnamese civ was once again not touched at all. They are now even more reliant on their ranged units (and their Rattan archers) that battle elephants have been significantly nerfed.
The Vietnamese civ is well-known as ‘the worst civ’ to many AoE2 players (especially in 1v1). This has literally deteriorated overnight despite the many good changes. This civ is now the new old Goths in the most unpleasant way. I still appreciate their power when it comes to archery, but now with the lack of Gold Shaft Mining and no way to hasten gold/stone resource gathering through faster or cheaper or more efficient techs or villagers is relying entirely on their wood-free eco-only research bonus–which is just not pulling its weight any more. Consider making military and defense techs cost 50% of the wood in addition?
(or perhaps a staggered wood reduction on all techs 20% starting in feudal, 50% castle, 90% Imperial with most if not all eco-techs remaining wood-free)